How the Mighty Have Fallen: Trump Spent Biden’s SOTU Lashing Out. Here Are His Worst Insults

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

It wasn’t that long ago that President Donald Trump was delivering the State of the Union before a joint session of Congress. Three years later, having lost the election and escaped to Mar-a-Lago, Trump was relegated to sharing live commentary about President Joe Biden’s address. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Of course, Trump wasn’t sharing his thoughts to a broad audience on Twitter — a platform he was banished from after Jan. 6 — but his struggling platform TruthSocial. But the bile spewed was the same as it ever was.

Do you miss the Borscht belt humor of Don Rickles, packaged in a highly partisan point of view, with a layer of victimization? Trump’s posts scratched that itch.

Trump’s commentary was a redux of the kind of tasteless insults that have long angered the political and media establishment. He castigated Biden’s record in office and accused the Delaware Democrat of taking credit for his own accomplishments.

There was also a fair amount of criticism directed towards Biden’s halting speech, his passionate tone that sometimes borders on fury, and an over-reliance on the term “folks.”

There were also a lot of insults that were just remarkably weird. And mean. And weirdly mean (or meanly weird?)

Take for example his strange and snarky commentary on political nemesis Nancy Pelosi, in the context of her husband recovering from a hammer to the head by an unhinged dude radicalized by Trump’s stolen election lies:

Nice to see Nancy Pelosi not sitting in the background. Hopefully she’s spending more time with her husband!

While Pelosi was not sat behind Biden as she is no longer speaker of the House, she was in attendance at the State of the Union, along with her husband, who was honored by Biden just months after the brutal attempt on his life.

Then there was predictable dinging of Biden’s lack of rhetorical flourish.

“Big stumble on Schumer. He called him Minority Leader. Can’t do that! Each time he’s going off script, he’s making a mistake. Hopefully he will improve!” Trump wrote. “Too much use of the word ‘folks!'” he added.

Trump then offered some advice to Biden’s team: ” He seems to be very angry, shouting into the mic, when he’s trying to come across as conciliatory. Perhaps somebody should walk up to the dais, tap him on the shoulder, and say, ‘Be cool!’”

Be cool.

Trump then went after Republicans who appeared to be somewhat moved by some of what Biden said, noting, “I notice Mitt Romney and some of the RINOs jumping up and down with applause for the wrong reasons!”

There’s his attack on Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who Trump referred to as “But-edge-edge.”

The secretary, Trump snarked, has “done an absolutely terrific job with our Airports.”

“Waits of no longer than four or five days. He’s being groomed by the Party for President, but his husband is not happy about it!” he added.

It is unclear why Trump felt the need to include a comment about Buttigieg’s husband. Or the word “groomed.” No clue at all.

And in case his followers were in need of more xenophobic hits on his former cabinet member Elaine Chao, Trump offered: “He forgot to thank Mitch McConnell and his lovely wife, Coco Chow, for giving him all of these Trillions of Dollars to waste!”

Later, he mocked the appearance of former Senate Majority Leader, writing, “Mitch McConnell looks like Hell, so bad for the Republican Party!”

Some other Trump chestnuts were recalled, like this hit of one of his biggest critics in the Democratic Party: “Just showed Racist Maxine Waters with a big smile on her face, but this is a woman that truly hates America!”

Trump DID share some odd notes of goodwill, like this for the First Lady Jill Biden: “His wife, Jill, is looking lovely tonight in a beautiful purple dress, clapping and applauding with great enthusiasm.” Later he appeared to laud President Biden with “He’s doing better now, far fewer stumbles!”

But the goodwill was short-lived. He quickly returned to the mockery: “Stumbling, bumbling, he just can’t get the words out. I don’t want that to happen, but the World is watching, and it’s not a pretty sight!”

There were other predictable dings on Elizabeth Warren and more claims that Biden was taking credit for his work.

All in all, it was a sad thing to watch a former president reduced to being just another sadsack posting hot takes in search of clout and attention.

And yet, that’s where we are.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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